Thanks for the link. Every country has a different taxation system. New to me (not) concerning the US system in general were taxation as income versus taxation as long-term investment (held for longer than 12 months). Makes sense if a government wants people to invest for long-term saving purposes. Unfortunately we don't have that over here. Wash-sale rule in US (sell at loss just to rebuy and harvest taxes) was new to me, but that also makes some sense. And yes, having to keep minute track of every taxable event (buy / sale etc) to determine gain/loss is a PITA, and especially with cryptos it seems, but that also makes absolute sense.JohnRoberts said:
Bitcoin, crypto currency and block chain...
- Thread starter iomegaman
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living sounds
Well-known member
https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-occ-official-says-crypto-has-backing-but-dollar-may-not
I am hearing more noise about blockchain... looks like Visa is working on a dollar backed crypto currency (might use etherium to get going), even facebook reportedly has some cryptocurrency in their pipeline.
The real question is what does this all get pegged to? I am not betting on BTC (still).
JR
The real question is what does this all get pegged to? I am not betting on BTC (still).
JR
boji
Well-known member
Haven't we proven by continued use of the 'pegless' US dollar that all is a consensual fiction?
Doesn't seem fair to demand the gold standard be applied to crypto but not to its main referent (usd).
boji said:
I was disappointed when President Nixon took us off the Gold standard (gold backed currency). But that was not the only time he disappointed me... (he drafted me too).
I am more worried about the "Modern Monetary Theory" that seems unconcerned about National debt ($28T or $85,000 per citizen, $224,000 per taxpayer). https://usdebtclock.org/
I wonder if all those economic migrants would still come if they were handed a bill at the border for the debt they are trying to embrace.
JR
If bitcoin blockchain transaction ledger keeps a history of all past transactions is there any way to block purloined bitcoin acquired by criminal activity, like the few million dollars worth from that pipeline hack ransom, from legal business activity? Now that they can't buy teslas with it.
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The Doge master (Musk) tweeted yesterday that he was no longer accepting BTC for Tesla purchases, crypto valuations dropped hundreds of $B on that news.
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About a year ago a hacker tried to extort me for a BTC payoff claiming that he had turned on my computer camera and video'd me doing something embarrassing. I don't even have a microphone let alone a camera on my computer and told him to F___ off...
Globally ransomware is a multi $T business. The pipeline hack is a win-win for Russia since it elevated oil prices and Russia is a major energy exporter.
JR
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The Doge master (Musk) tweeted yesterday that he was no longer accepting BTC for Tesla purchases, crypto valuations dropped hundreds of $B on that news.
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About a year ago a hacker tried to extort me for a BTC payoff claiming that he had turned on my computer camera and video'd me doing something embarrassing. I don't even have a microphone let alone a camera on my computer and told him to F___ off...
Globally ransomware is a multi $T business. The pipeline hack is a win-win for Russia since it elevated oil prices and Russia is a major energy exporter.
JR
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user 37518
Well-known member
Happened to me as well, if I recall correctly he knew one of my passwords, not the one I use for my e-mail but one that I use for other sites, which makes me believe that someone from a site I registered provided my info or they somehow were hacked and my name and password was on a list.About a year ago a hacker tried to extort me for a BTC payoff claiming that he had turned on my computer camera and video'd me doing something embarrassing. I don't even have a microphone let alone a camera on my computer and told him to F___ off...
The volume of $$ used for illicit activites and money laundering far outweighs Bitcoin in absolute and relative amounts multiple times. Also, contrary to popular belief Bitcoin doesn't really protect anonymity, every transaction is transparent. Traditional fiat currency is a lot more difficult to trace in comparison. You're really making an argument for the adoption of cryptocurrencies, not against.
No I wasn't arguing for or against, I was asking if the BTC block chain ledger has a record of all transactions why can't procedes from obvious illegal transactions (like a ransom payoff) be identified using that ledger and future value restricted.
JR
PS: My understanding is the BTC used for ransomware payoffs is in the range of $6-7T
see MARA's OFAC compliant pool for censoring transactions and HIVE blockchain can do the same on ETH
*I have a position in HIVE
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post...r-revives-debate-about-transaction-censorship
dmp
Well-known member
They can wash btc through scramble addresses. Say you have a 'hot' wallet address with some ill gotten btc. Send it to a wallet address with tons of incoming and outgoing transactions of different amounts. No way to track that original 'hot' amount of btc unless you want to follow every one of the transactions.
There are also cryptocurrencies that have scrambling technology as part of the blockchain process, so no addresses can be tracked at all. I followed one ransom story down into the nitty gritty details and that is how they 'cleaned' the btc.
https://www.chainalysis.com/they can "try" but you're fooling yourself if you think they cannot back to birth every transaction.
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Maybe something like a computer could sort through all the scramble addresses?
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Speaking of ransoms and BTC, it appears that the hackers who got the several $M payday from Colonial pipeline have been shut down, denied access to the tools of their trade (networks, dark web, whatever?).
It appears that the code to do the actual hack was written by a third party that licenses it out to low level bad actors to do the actual criminal activity (probably for a commission). This time some petty criminal was fishing for a tuna and accidentally hooked a whale, incurring the attention of the leaders of at least two major countries (US and Russia), that have so far tolerated ransomware.
This oops will not end the ransomware industry but is a career stopper for several involved, and may make the rest more careful about future phising expeditions.
JR
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Speaking of ransoms and BTC, it appears that the hackers who got the several $M payday from Colonial pipeline have been shut down, denied access to the tools of their trade (networks, dark web, whatever?).
It appears that the code to do the actual hack was written by a third party that licenses it out to low level bad actors to do the actual criminal activity (probably for a commission). This time some petty criminal was fishing for a tuna and accidentally hooked a whale, incurring the attention of the leaders of at least two major countries (US and Russia), that have so far tolerated ransomware.
This oops will not end the ransomware industry but is a career stopper for several involved, and may make the rest more careful about future phising expeditions.
JR
john12ax7
Well-known member
Been a wild ride for crypto lately, btc going from 60k to 30k, then some whales stepped in and now back to 40k. There is also Musk market manipulation and China looking to clamp down on it to make way for their own digital currency. The beginning of the end, or just another correction before another bull run.
I am still even, I own zero BTC, or dogecoin. It has been interesting to see Musk alternately talk them up on day then down the next.
Smarter guys than me, doing technical analysis in crypto coin charts suggest that the ratios used to declare corrections or bull markets for common stocks may need to use 4x or maybe more for crypto. Using that new crypto math suggests it might just be a correction, and not a bear market turn, while the entire stock market feels toppy these days and an inevitable correction there could be good or bad for crypto.
If I was younger I would hold a modest position in BTC (or whatever) along side my small gold holdings. At my age I'll just watch BTC from the sidelines.
JR
PS: My tax return asked me about BTC so the IRS will be looking at pursuing capital gains tax
Smarter guys than me, doing technical analysis in crypto coin charts suggest that the ratios used to declare corrections or bull markets for common stocks may need to use 4x or maybe more for crypto. Using that new crypto math suggests it might just be a correction, and not a bear market turn, while the entire stock market feels toppy these days and an inevitable correction there could be good or bad for crypto.
If I was younger I would hold a modest position in BTC (or whatever) along side my small gold holdings. At my age I'll just watch BTC from the sidelines.
JR
PS: My tax return asked me about BTC so the IRS will be looking at pursuing capital gains tax
Who wouldn't pay more taxes if it means a higher income? 
Not gonna see many dip opportunities like this one (heh unless it keeps dipping)
I own no bitcoins (the p2p cash narrative has been coopted) I do own Ethereum Classic (where will refugee miners go when ETH switches away from PoW to PoS?) and some Ravencoin (bitcoin code fork another GPU mineable chain) Playing the speculation of "where will the workers go?"
someone way smarter than me said "True Volatility kills investors who have been trained to act on impulse and rewards players and deep pocketed banks who can bluff the pot at will" This pullback shook out some people and destroyed some over leveraged traders both directions.
Bitcoin Miami soon Bitcoin 2021 Conference | Miami - June 4-5, 2021
keep an eye on this panel (full disclosure I'm 100% stock allocated HIVE Blockchain)
ESG mining will be a heated topic, Bitcoin maxi's will be angry and long wallets will want to protect themselves from optics of "blood/dirty coin"
Not gonna see many dip opportunities like this one (heh unless it keeps dipping)
I own no bitcoins (the p2p cash narrative has been coopted) I do own Ethereum Classic (where will refugee miners go when ETH switches away from PoW to PoS?) and some Ravencoin (bitcoin code fork another GPU mineable chain) Playing the speculation of "where will the workers go?"
someone way smarter than me said "True Volatility kills investors who have been trained to act on impulse and rewards players and deep pocketed banks who can bluff the pot at will" This pullback shook out some people and destroyed some over leveraged traders both directions.
Bitcoin Miami soon Bitcoin 2021 Conference | Miami - June 4-5, 2021
keep an eye on this panel (full disclosure I'm 100% stock allocated HIVE Blockchain)
ESG mining will be a heated topic, Bitcoin maxi's will be angry and long wallets will want to protect themselves from optics of "blood/dirty coin"
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john12ax7
Well-known member
How do people actually buy crypto? I looked at exchanges like coinbase,, and they want ALL your personal information. Uploading things like your ID or passport seems like a huge security breach waiting to happen.
What are the alternatives?
What are the alternatives?
Caveat I do not own any crypto directly but I do follow financial news. I may own some indirectly through stock holdings.
I read that Coinbase is pretty popular for consumer crypto transactions. Fintech payment processors like Square and Paypal reportedly are letting customers/merchants transact crypto (I use paypal but have not investigated their crypto feature).
The Chinese crypto yuan reportedly gives the Chinese government visibility into everything you buy/sell/whatever.
US central bankers are talking about a dollar backed/pegged crypto for transactions. Like the Chinese crypto currency I expect the US government to want to see transaction info. They are already asking to see citizens bank acct info without permission.
I trust the (any) government about as far as I can throw them... My last stimulus lump, was direct deposited into my bank account, while I do not recall giving them my acct info ... earlier stimulus payments were paper checks mailed to my street address. It seems if they can make direct deposits they can likewise flip the switch for withdrawals.
I read that Coinbase is pretty popular for consumer crypto transactions. Fintech payment processors like Square and Paypal reportedly are letting customers/merchants transact crypto (I use paypal but have not investigated their crypto feature).
The Chinese crypto yuan reportedly gives the Chinese government visibility into everything you buy/sell/whatever.
US central bankers are talking about a dollar backed/pegged crypto for transactions. Like the Chinese crypto currency I expect the US government to want to see transaction info. They are already asking to see citizens bank acct info without permission.
I trust the (any) government about as far as I can throw them... My last stimulus lump, was direct deposited into my bank account, while I do not recall giving them my acct info
... earlier stimulus payments were paper checks mailed to my street address. It seems if they can make direct deposits they can likewise flip the switch for withdrawals. 
shabtek
Well-known member
in the future IRS can sort out taxes due...It seems if they can make direct deposits they can likewise flip the switch for withdrawals.
